Man convicted of raping woman in her Greeley apartment could spend life in prison

Posted on 01/05/2018

A Weld County man who was convicted of sexual assault in July 2017 for assaulting a woman in her Greeley apartment in 2015 could spend the rest of his life in prison.

On Thursday, a judge sentenced Ibrahim Hirsi, 39, to 36 years to life behind bars for raping a woman while she was returning to her apartment after grocery shopping on October 10, 2015.

According to an arrest affidavit, the victim saw Hirsi sitting outside her apartment while she was bringing groceries into her home from her vehicle. Hirsi then followed the victim into her apartment and began beating her. The victim told police Hirsi strangled her multiple times and told her, “I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you.”

On one occasion while the defendant was strangling her, she began to lose consciousness. He then sexually assaulted her. The whole assault lasted about two hours.

The victim was eventually able to get away from Hirsi and scream for help. The victim told police Hirsi immediately ran from her apartment and left a pair of pants, a bottle of alcohol, sandals and a black and white hat.

Police later located the defendant near Jackson Elementary School after they were dispatched to the area on a report of a suspicious person.

“Every day we prosecute criminals and seek justice for victims who live in our community,” Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke said. “And while we take every case and every crime seriously, we have absolutely no tolerance for evil, senseless crimes of this nature. I’m proud of my team that fought for this sentence because now he won’t have the chance to torture anyone else the way he did to this victim.”

In July 2017, a jury convicted Hirsi of Sexual Assault by Force, Burglary of a Dwelling and Second Degree Assault. Arynn Clark prosecuted the case.